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I am aware that I am a descendant of African Slaves and American Indians but I am on a quest to find out more information about my ancestors and my identity. I now reside in Ashburn, VA but I was born and raised in Clarksville, VA. I do know that my mother’s maiden name is Townes and one of the Slave Masters in that area last name was Townes. My Father’s last name is Lewis and both his Mother and Father are from North Carolina. All my life, I have identified with the African American cultural because that is who I am but I do not know much about my American Indian Heritage but a couple of stories that was past down from generation to generation. Both my Father and Mother are Black American Indians but they too identify more with the African American cultural. I guess because the Black Race is very diverse and not difficult to claim. A long time ago, if someone was mixed with African Blood, then white people would identify them as only a Black and not recognize their other bloodline. I live about 30 minutes from Washington, DC and I just recently visited the Nationl Museum of the American Indian and I loved it. However, I did not see any exhibits that mentioned Black Indians nor did I find information in their Resource Center via computer. The Census still trys to place people in “The Box.” I would like to learn more about my American Indian Ancestors and would appreciate assistance. Thank You
Erica Lewis:)
Welcome to the forum, Erica, everyone here knows the feeling, so relax and please make yourself at home.
I don’t know how much help I can give you but if you have information on your family back to people born before 1930, I’m certainly willing to help you trace them back further. Most personal information since 1930 is hard to come by online, so having done some work on your family history is important to finding your ancestors if your people haven’t been forthcoming or if they don’t have any specifics – something we all know too well.
Have you had any luck talking to older family members about their ancestors? Any anecdotal info is always helpful and the more specific the information is, the better it is – such as….
Which of your parents (or both?) have spoken of being of Indian descent? (Arriving here by deductive reasoning is equally viable.)
Do you have information on any of your parents’ ancestors?
(Names, dates, places? Doesn’t have to be their biography, but some “starting” point makes it develope quicker.) If so, post it as a new thread over on the “Share Genealogy…. ” section of the forum and I’ll take a shot at it. Again, Welcome.
Bill
Erica…… let me also extend my welcome. You have come to the right place to find your answers. I live across the border in Person co NC ….. you are surrounded by other forum members 😉 and Bill is our genealogy expert…… he has a gift for finding info that is phenomenal
Erica,
“Ditto” on DreaminHawk’s reply. You really did come to the right place. I wish you all the luck in finding everything you want to know. It’s a great lot of fun and a wonderful learning experience. Bill, really is phenominal at what he does. I hope to hear a lot from you on other parts af the forum. Lynella.:)
It’s good to have you here.
It is gonna be hard to research your family, as I’d imagine both Indians and Black Slaves are poorly documented. Good luck.
Please list surnames, et cetera, that go back as far as you can. You said — “I am but I do not know much about my American Indian Heritage but a couple of stories that was past down from generation to generation.”
I’d be interested in hearin’ those stories if you’d be interested in sharin’ ’em . . . 🙂
vance
Hello Erica, welcome to the crowd. I don’t get too much time anymore to post, but Iam happy that you found this site. In time you’ll here from the “House Mistress” Linda, our most gracious host.
Also there many others that round out the crowd. Hang in there we are all with you!
Have you looked on the web for “Black Indian” groups, on this site there is an article that pretains to this subject, ONLY IN AMERICA!
I have seen several sites when I relocate them I’ll post them just for you. !
Hey Erica,
I’ve been posting on this site for a few months now and I have learned a lot. It’s hard to do African/American Indian genealogy searches but you can do it. The web helped me a lot. If you have a last name try checking on the database here to see if you can find any links or matches. Everyone on this forum is great and they help you out a lot but you should get your last names, places of origin if you can find them and dates together. It helps to have them near by. Also anything you can get from the census.
I’m checking my maternal grandmother’s line and so far we have gotten to 1850. It takes a while but hang in there. I went to the museum also and they didn’t have as much as I thought they would have, however, they do have a VHS tape you can buy about doing African/Native American genealogy. I haven’t gotten it yet but I plan to.
One more thing, try doing a search on the area that the native americans in your family came from. That could help you narrow down tribes unless you already know what tribe they came from.
Best Wishes,
A. Dillard
I just found out detailed information about my Grandma Anna Bell Hargrove Lewis:
-Her father’s name was Willie Hargrove, Sr. (My Great Granddaddy)
-Her Mother’s name was Alice Daves (My Great Grandmother)
and her mother’s name was Mary Terry (My Great Great Grandmother)
I found out my Grandma’s siblings names and their children’s names…….I also found out that there’s Chereekee on my Grandma Lewis’s family……..they are from North Carolina.
Erica:D
PS: I can post detailed information later.
Wow, that’s great Erica.
I started a wild ruccas in my husband’s family over the holiday. Both his mom and dad attest to the NDN blood from VA, but they criticized me horribly for having open conversations about it with my children. They feel that I am digging for the NDN and ignoring the African. What is astonishing to me is that we are all educated, and some highly educated. My father in law is an archivist and my husband is a librarian. Yet they said something as crazy as this… “I’m not saying that it’s wrong because we are part NDN, but it appears that you want to turn them NDN and not tell them that they are really Black.” I’m sorry, but it sounded contraditory and kinda stupid to me. My girls know fully that they are Black by the mere fact that they say that they are African American. Anyway, the woman they say was a full blood (but probably actually mixed) was a woman named Elizabeth Allen from Amherst County. What tribe, I don’t know, and my husbands people don’t care to know. They told me to go do some bonfide research and get back to them on it. Imagine that!
Deirdre
I am sorry that you experienced the criticism from African Americans…..personally, when your own family criticize you and tell you to embrace only one bloodline is sad.
Erica:(
You may be interested in the following documentary:
http://www.richheape.com/native-american-videos/Black_Indians_An_American_Story.htm
“This film affirms to African Americans that it’s OK to come to the surface and say, ‘Yes, I’m part Indian. “They’re not giving up their blackness; they’re just recognizing their Indian heritage.” “Just as the Jewish holocaust victims don’t want their story forgotten, neither do the Black Indians,” adds Mr. Heape. “As sad as that story is, it’s part of our heritage and history.”
James Earl Jones agreed to narrate the film and the Neville Brothers provided music because they felt the neglected story needed telling.
Mr. Jones did the narration for the film giving the project instant credibility. Why? Turns out, it’s a matter of roots.
“My answer is very simple: I’m part Cherokee through my grandmother,” Mr. Jones says. “That is why I was particularly interested in the project.
The Neville Brothers have been told all their lives that they have American Indian heritage. So Cyril Neville and his brothers, whose music is an amalgamation of jazz, R&B, and reggae, provided the music.
“The Great Spirit who moves through all things meant for the Neville Brothers to do this,” says the percussionist from his home in New Orleans. “It was a blessing to be involved because it helped answer questions I’ve been wondering about all my life.”
The film is healing, Mr. Neville says, and helps people like him understand their sometimes confused backgrounds. “When you know the truth, it sets you free. As another citizen of the First Nation said, ‘The truth may sleep, but it never dies.’………………. ”
***
From The New York Times:
Black Indians: An American Story
2000 – World History
PLOT DESCRIPTION
“To build the future, you must know the past. But what if that past has been hidden, lost, or denied?” That question is posed by this program (part of the Circle of Life documentary series) and its answer is explored through interviews with people with mixed African and Native American heritage. Black Indians from many walks of life (including workers, scholars, and artists) discuss the search for, and expression of, their unique identity — and the racial tensions and stereotyping they have encountered in their lives. The film also examines the history of this group of people, bringing out important aspects of its cultural and artistic heritage and considering them within a modern context. This episode is accompanied by music from Indian and black American artists and is narrated by James Earl Jones. ~ Alice Duncan, All Movie Guide”
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=225906
Brenda
This is a little off topic, but I think it provides some interesting background.
I have read a bit about the Long Hunters and early explorers on the frontier and seen this William Carr’s name come up. I don’t often see, however, the question of his racial background discussed or even mentioned as in the extract below from the article on Long Hunters at the Wise Co. site…. Lately there is a lot of interest in exploring the background of some of these folks beyond assuming they were predominately Scotts Irish or English. Melungeon researchers are particularly interested in the “friendly Indians” that were reported to be among the early folks at Blackmore’s Fort, for example. I wonder if there was a type of “color-blindness” on the very early frontier?
The reference to Joseph Martin is interesting, too, I think.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~vawise2/sketches/HSpubl35.html
“Of William Carr little is known, except the little left to us in the Reminiscences of John Redd, who says:
“He was raised in Albemarle County, Virginia, and at a very early age removed to the frontier. In 1775 I became acquainted with him in Powell’s Valley. He lived on the frontier for twenty years or more and had spent the whole time hunting. Carr hunted over in Kentucky, beyond the Cumberland Mountains to the right of Cumberland Gap in a place called “The Brush.” Carr always returned with his horses laden with furs and skins. He described the game as being so gentle the animals would rarely run from the report of his gun.”
“Carr was the most venturesome hunter I ever knew. He would frequently go on these hunting expeditions alone. After the breaking out of the Indian war of 1776, few men ventured on these long hunts. Carr determined to take one more long hunt, and as no one would go with him, he determined to go alone. Accordingly, he supplied himself with a good supply of powder and lead, his steel traps, two good horses, and set out on a long hunt and was never heard of afterward. He was no doubt killed by the Indians.” (13)
I do not know just where Carr resided on the frontier. It is hard to trace the name since the records show both a William Carr and William Kerr, and whether they are one and the same I do not know. In a land suit in Augusta Superior Court in 1809, (Fugate vs Mahan) with the land in question lying on Moccasin Creek, Agness Fugate Mahan, widow of Francis Fugate, said:
“That in 1771, Francis Fugate purchased the land in question from William Carr, a “Negro man of color,” and that Carr was supposed to have bought the land from John Morgan, one of the first settlers in that area.”
In the same suit John Montgomery, another witness said:
“William Carr is supposed to be a near relation to General Joseph Martin.”
In connection with Agness Fugate Mahan’s statement about William Carr being a Negro man of color, John Redd tells this intriguing story:
“William _____ was born in Albemarle County, Virginia. He was the first son of his mother; notwithstanding his mother and her husband were both very respectable and had a fine estate, yet when William was born he turned out to be a dark mulatto. The old man being a good sort of a fellow and withal, very credulous, was induced by his better half to believe the color of his son was a judgement sent on her for her wickedness. William was sent to school and learned the rudiments of an English education and, at the age of eighteen, he was furnished with a good horse, gun and some money and directed by his reputed father to go to the frontier and seek his fortune and never return.”
“In the early part of the spring of 1775, I became personally acquainted with William at Martin’s Station in Powells Valley. He was then about forty years of age; he never married, and had been living on the frontier something like twenty years. He lived in the forts and stations and lived entirely by hunting. Notwithstanding his color he was treated with as much respect as any white man. Few men possessed a more high sense of honor and true bravery than he did. He was possessed of a very strong natural mind and always cheerful and the very life of any company he was in. He had hunted in the “brush” for many years before I became acquainted with him. He was about the ordinary height, little inclined to be corpulent, slightly round shouldered and weighed about 160 or 170 pounds and very strong for one of his age.” (14)
One William Carr was in Captain Robert Doak’s militia company June 2, 1774, and a William Carr was also in the Cherokee Campaign under Colonel Christian in the same year. Bickley, in his “History of Tazewell County,” tells of a hunter named Carr making an early settlement in Tazewell County, Virginia. “
Brenda
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